Machine for forming armored insulated conductors



May 28, 1929 J. H. HUNTER 1,714,787

MACHINE FOR FORMING ARMORED INSULATED CONDUCTORS Filed April 20, 1925mechanism; I

Figure 2 1s a longitudinal section showmg APatented May 28, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT maar .JOSEPH H. HUNTER, 0F -`IDtETROI'l, MICHIGAN,ASSIGNOR, BY MESN ASSIGNTS, T0 GENERALCABLE CORPORATION, ACORPORATION OFNEW J l 4 morirme Foa romania .amu'oniinv INSULATED commerces.

Application mea April 2o, 1925@ sealara. Meer;

The ,invention relates to the manufacture of armored insulatedconductors of that type.

avoids certain di'fl'iculties incident to the op-v eration of machinesas heretofore constructed. To this end the invention consists in theconstruction as hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings: Figure l is a diagrammatic cross section of the machineshowing the armor-'forming the means for feeding the conductor to thearmor and for receiving the armored product.

.Inthe present state of the art machines have` been constructed forforming a flexible armor for electrical conductors consisting ofaspirally wound metallic strip having the vconvolutionsthereof'overlapping and interlocking. As diagrammatically shown inFigure 1, such conduit forming mechanism comprises fo'rming rolls A andB which fashion the metallic strip C to the desired cross sectionalcontour and deliver it through a guideway E to a series of rolls F,between which it is formed into a spiral tube. The' specificconstruction of this mechanism forms no part of the present inventionand will, therefore, not be described further in detail. A

- The spirally wound armor tube Gr which is delivered from the rolls Fis revolving and axially advancing at a rate determined by the speed ofthe forming mechanism. Therefore, to encase a conductor in this armorwithout twisting or straining the same, it is necessary that it shouldbe delivered into the tube revolving at substantially the same rate.

This has been accomplished in machines here-,

tofore used hy feeding the conductor tangentially from a reel which ismounted on a spindle revolving at the same lrate as the armor. However,with such mechanism, un- -less the speed of rotation is maintainedrelatively low, centrifugal action will interfere with the properfeeding oli of the conductor.

To overcome this difficulty and to permit of speeding up the machine toa much higher rate than has heretofore been customaryl have devised aconstruction in which the conductor is 'delivered from a coil which isaxi- .ally revolving. The speed of rotation of this the armor.

'coilis such ,that the conductor as delivered .into the armor conduit isrevolving at subl-stantlally the same rate as the conduit and from thefact that the coil revolves about its v own axis, there will be nointerference due to centrifugal action.

As shown in Figure 2, I preferably place the reel H, which contains thecoiled conductor, 1n a revolving drum I which has a cover J centrallyapertured for the outward passage of the conductor.

.Y v The reel H may be suitably mounted within the drum to have its axiscoincident therewith so that the coil, l

as well as the reel itself, will be in substantial balance whenrevolving. Thus centrifugal action will tend to throw the conductor asit is drawn ofi' from the reel outward against the walls of the drum,whichserve as a shield to limit the outward swing of the "conductor andfrom which the conductor passes radially inward guided by the slopingwalls of the cover into axial alignment with the coil and through theaperture in the cover and is then directed into axial alignment with Thedrum is positively driven by mechanism indicated at K, which is timedwith the forming mechanism for 4the armor, and this timing is such thatthe average speed of rotation ofthe delivered conductor is the same asthat of the armor when delivered. In determining this speed,compensation must be made for the rotation which is due to the uncoilingof the conductor from the reel, which alters the angular speed of thedelivered conductor from that of the revolving drum. Also the fact thatthe conductor on the reel has convolut-ions of varying diamev themachine is preferably received by a revolving drum L passing into thesame through a. centrally apertured cover M and being coiled against theouter wall of the drum by centrifugal action. Such receivingudrums have,however, been employed in mac 'nes as heretofore constructed.

With the construction as described, the machine may be driven at thehighest rate of speed which the armor forming mechanism willsuccessfully operate and which is much greater than that heretofore usedand which,

therefore, largely increases the output of the machine.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination With meansfor forming a metallic strip into a spirally wound revolving andlongitudinally advancing armor conduit, of a revolving drum forreceiving a coiled conductor to be armored, a centrally aperturedconical cover for said drum through which the end of the conductor ispassed out and from Which it passes to the armor-forming mechanism, andmeans for driving said drum in timed relation to the armor-formingmechanism and such that the average rotary speed of the conductor asdelivered into the armor is the rotary speed of the armor tube.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination with meansfor forming a metallic strip into a spirally Wound revolving andlongitudinally advancing armor conduit, of a rotary drum,'1neans forsecuring Within said drum and in axial alignment therewith a reel forholding a coiled conductor to be armored, said reel providing aclearance between the same and the Walls of the drum, a cover for thedrum centrally apertured for the passage of the conductor out therefrom,and means for driving said drum and reel therein in timed relation tosaid armor forming mechanism such that the average rotary speed of theconductor as delivered into the armor is substantially the rotary speedof the armor. i

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with meansfor forming a metallic strip into a spirally wound revolving andlongitudinally advancing armor conduit, of means for rotating a coiledconductor to be armored about the axis of the qoil, a shield surroundingthe coil for freely directing the conductor as drawn from the coil intoaxial alignment with the coil, and means for timing the rotation of saidcoil With that of the armor forming mechanism 'such that the averagerotary speed of the conductor as f delivered into the armor issubstantially the rotary speed of the armor.

4. In a machine of the cha 'actor described, the combination With meansfor forming a metallic strip into a spirally Wound revolving andlongitudinallyadvancing armor; conduit, of means for revolving a coiledconductor to be armored about the axis of the coil y at a sufficientspeed to throw the conductor outwardly by centrifugal force away fromthe coil, means for limiting the outward swing of the conductor and fordirecting the same as drawn from the coil into axial aligninto the armoris substantially the rotary speed of the armor.

In testimony Whereol'I aliiX my signature.

JOSEPH H. HUNTER.

